Star Wars is certainly not serious sci fi. Baddies keep falling down extremely long holes, someone gets chopped up by a lightsabre and put together again not unlike Frankenstein and the imperials make mistakes like the Keystone Kops. All sorts of silliness everywhere such as in the galactic senate of Coruscant you can clearly see ET creatures walking about
The new Trilogy is different in that - instead of ripping off stories from old Hollywood films, Star Wars is ripping off the stories from the original Star Wars trilogy
I liked the death of Snoke a lot.
In Ep 8 we see what Luke could have / should have done to Palpatine when he was sitting with his light sabre upon his throne.
We have already seen Ep7 tries to be more plausible than 4 - with regard to making a 'Death Star'
I expect the idea that history keeps repeating itself will continue in Episode 9 - along the lines of 'I am your father' . Perhaps Leia is Rey's Mother - it is interesting that originally JJ Abrams wanted Carrie Fishers daughter to play Rey
I really really hope that JJ Abrams doen't bring time travel into the plot...perhaps Rey is Padme'sAnakin skywalkers great grandmother...
Disney has said they are planning a new Trilogy but set on the other side of (or possibly in another?) galaxy where we can assume the Force exists - perhaps were Yoda comes from.
What we definitely won't be seeing are any more films about trade disputes, zero contract hours or season ticket price rises..